Ellen's The Oresteia is Michael Kahn's, Artistic Director for 30 years, final show.
The Oresteia
By Ellen McLaughlin
Adapted from Aeschylus
Directed by Michael Kahn
It’s not a matter of whether you are guilty. It’s whether you are forgivable.
Through ten years of war, grief and rage, Queen Clytemnestra lies in wait for her husband Agamemnon’s return, determined to avenge one child, only to doom the others. The sole surviving trilogy in Greek tragedy, The Oresteia chronicles a deluge of violence that can only be stopped when society peers into its own soul and sees the depths of its complicity. Playwright Ellen McLaughlin (The Persians) has written a new version of the classic, commissioned by STC. Her play, three years in the making, weaves together the works of Aeschylus with stunning poetry and emotional heft. An epic, world-premiere interpretation of this pillar of western culture, The Oresteia makes a fitting end to Michael Kahn’s tenure as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
The Oresteia is made possible by a generous grant from The Roy Cockrum Foundation